Gloria Gaynor was honored in Washington, D.C., over the weekend at the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors.
As People reports, Gaynor, 82, said she was “in shock,” after learning that she was on the radar of the Kennedy Center board. “I was literally in shock. Are you serious with me?”
She continued, “I mean, really, it’s so wonderful to be counted among all these other great artists, and with all of their accomplishments. I’m blessed.”
On Sunday night, President Donald Trump took to the stage in Washington, DC to emcee the night, making him the first president to do so. He skipped the honors every year during his first term.
Gaynor, was the only female artist selected to receive the prestigious honor this year. She was recognized alongside actor and director Sylvester Stallone, Broadway legend Michael Crawford, the rockers of KISS, and country music icon George Strait.
“It was wonderful. It was, I mean, like the third or fourth time meeting him,” the disco singer shared. “I’d met him before, and he’s always very personable and very pleasant.”
While addressing the crowd, Trump, 79, took aim at some audience members while praising the talent being honored.
“If there is one thread that connects all of these amazing artists together, it is the word persistence. I can say that with a lot of the members of our audience, I know so many of you and you are persistent,” Trump said, before jabbing that “many of you are miserable, horrible people.”
Returning to the theme of persistence, Trump said the honorees’ drive to not give up shows “an unwavering commitment to absolute excellence in their craft.”
“That’s what they’ve done,” he continued. “All of them have overcome great odds and faced their share of setbacks, tremendous setbacks. Some of them have had legendary setbacks, that you have to read in the papers when they because of their level of faith, they have a problem to read about it. But in the words of Rocky Balboa, they showed us that you keep moving forward.”